Fuel-brick.



UNITED %TATE% PATENT @FFIQE.

WLADISLAUS BAKOWSKI, OF LOGAN, WEST VIRGINIA.

FUEL-BRICK.

"No Drawing.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, lVLAmsLAUs RA- xowsxr, a subject of the Emperor of Ger many, residing at Logan, in the county of Logan and State of West Virginia, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Fuel-Bricks, of which the following is a specification.

This invention aims to disclose a novel fuel brick which will be highly efiicient in use and which may be manufactured at a very low cost.

It is one aim of the invention to provide a brick which will not crumble as it is being consumed and which will not cool quickly.

The invention also aims to provide a fuel brick of such composition that it will not emit dense smoke and obnoxious odors while burning.

It is still another aim of the invention to provide a binder. for a fuel brick composition, which binder may be manufactured or produced at an extremely low cost, will effectually bind the other ingredients of the brick, and will not emit smoke or obnoxious odors as the brick is being consumed.

In its simplest form the invention contemplates the manufacture of a fuel brick from coal dust, either anthracite or bituminous, and a binder which is a decoction of bran.

In preparing the binder I add two and one-half pints of water to two to four ounces by weight of any ordinary bran, although preferably wheat bran is used. This mixture is then boiled until the volume of water has been reduced to one quart and while hot is poured into a strainer and as much as possible of the decoction is expressed from the bran. This binder while still warm is mixed with a quantity of coal dust sufficient to produce a thick paste and in this state it may remain from one-fourth to one-half an hour in order that coal dust or pulverized coal may absorb the binder, after which the whole is introduced into a mold and subjected to pressure and the bricks thus formed are allowed to dry. Inasmuch as the bricks, after the drying operation, are to a certain extent friable, it is necessary that they be baked in a suitable oven prior to use. The brick thus produced will burn practically as long as the corresponding volume of coal from which it is made (an- Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented May 25, 11915.

Application filed May 20, 1913. Serial No. 768,883.

thracite or bituminous) and will give equally as much if not more heat than the same kind of coal in its natural state. I have also found by actual experiment that a fuel brick of the composition above stated, if properly molded and compressed will not crumble as it is being consumed, and that it will glow and give off heat for a greater period of time than coal in its natural or lump form. Furthermore, the binder is not of such nature that it will clog the grate bars or cause the brick to flow as is the case when resin or asphaltum or a like substance is employed as a. binder.

While I have calculated that a ton of bricks manufactured in accordance with the above will cost less than one-half the price of a. ton of the same kind of coal, this cost of manufacture may be further reduced by making use of saw-dust and by omitting the straining of the binder. Thus, for example, the brick may be manufactured from a mixture of one pound of coal dust, one-fourth of a pound of s w-dust and a suitable quantity of a binder consisting of a decoction made from nine ounces of wheat bran and one gallon of water; it may be made from a mixture of a' pound of coal dust, one-half a pound of saw-dust, and a binder consisting of a decoction made from ten ounces of wheat bran and a gallon of water; it may be made from a mixture of a pound of coal-dust and three-fourths of a pound of saw-dust, using for the binder a decoction made from eleven ounces of wheat bran and one gallon of water, or the proportions may be varied in many other ways without departing from the spirit of the invention.

In the manufacture of the bricks containing saw-dust in addition to the coal dust. the binder is not strained but is mixed with the two first mentioned ingredients as soon as the boiling operation has been completed. If the saw-dust used contains pitch, it may not be necessary to use the decoction of bran binder, as the pitch contained in the sawdust will act effectually as a binder. In order to secure the best results, however, the saw-dust must be heated to a certain temperature and then partly dried in order to soften the pitch.

As stated, the bricks do not give off volumes of smoke, as in the case of similar bricks in which the binder consists of resin or asphaltum, or like substances, and in fact if they are manufactured from anthracite coal dust they will be practically smokeless.

Furthermore, the bricks formed in accord ance with the foregoing description are more solid and produce less ashes and have a higher heating power than coal and they burn slowly, do not tarnish, and are cheaper than coal.

Having thus described the invention What is claimed as new is 1. Fuel consisting of comminuted combustible particles united by a binder which is a decoction of bran.

2. Fuel consisting of comminuted coal and a binder which is a decoction of bran.

3. Fuel consisting of coal-dust, saw-dust, and a binder which is a decoction of bran.

4. Fuel consisting of a mixture of coal dust and saw-dust and a binder which is an unstraineddecoction of bran. 20

In testimony whereof I aifix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

WLADISLAUS RAKOWSKI. [L. s]

Witnesses:

WOJOISCH CARNOTA, B. GoNGoLA.

Gopies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents,

Washington, D. 0. 

